Pagham Church / St Thomas a Becket’s Church

Pagham Church, also referred to as St Thomas à Becket’s is the Anglican church serving the Parish of Pagham.

The first church on this site was built by the Saxons 1300 years ago in the 7th Century AD, on land given by Caedulla, King of Wessex to St Wilfrid, in gratitude for having saved the people of the area from starvation. Later, when St Wilfrid returned north, he gave Pagham to the Archbishops of Canterbury, who remain Patrons of the Parish to this day.

The foundations of this early church were rediscovered when the church floor was re-laid in 1976. Some stones from these foundations were built into an oak-topped table which can be seen in the south transept. A piece of Saxon cross was found at the same time. In the 1950s fragments of a Saxon burial urn were found in the churchyard. This was restored by the British Museum and and is displayed in a case in the south aisle.

Today, the church today is a thriving spiritual centre, with all invited to see the church and its grounds and welcomed to join services.